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Phobia and Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Acute Stress Disorder (ASD).

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder is a condition where you have recurring distressing memories, 'flashbacks', and other symptoms after suffering a traumatic event. Treatment options include antidepressant medication and non-drug treatments such as Cognitive Behaviour Therapy or/and Psychotherapy.

Is their a link between PTSD and phobia's?

In some cases there could be, a person whom has experienced Post Traumatic Stress may avoid a situation that may reminds them of the event. This could develop into to a phobia related in some way to that event. The phobia may not have a direct relationship with the event but may have some underline connection.

It could also be possible for the event to become suppressed within the subconscious mind and for the actual event not to be directly remembered. The person, (usually if young or inexperienced), could believe the Traumatic Stress event to have a level of normality, (e.g. this happens to nearly everyone else), and not believe they have even suffered from a what is actually to others to be a Traumatic Stress event.

Also the phobia, (anxiety avoidance), could become distorted e.g. a phobia of something could be really be masking a fear of something else.

These situations could result in a phobia without he person having a direct knowledge of where that phobia stems from.  This may result in anxiety, stress and phobias.

Post Traumatic Stress Disorder  (From Patient website)  "You try to avoid thoughts, conversations, places, people, activities or anything which may trigger memories of the trauma as these make you distressed or anxious.".

Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms, Treatment, and Self-Help (Form Help Guide) "Avoiding activities, places, thoughts, or feelings that remind you of the trauma".

Primary Care Treatment of Post-traumatic Stress Disorder (Form American Family Physician) "Avoids places, activities or people that remind the patient of the event. ".

Trauma and PTSD (From Guide to Psychology) "Anxiety about, and avoidance of, specific reminders of the event".

PTSD, Chronic Posttraumatic Stress, Prolonged Posttraumatic Stress (From NMIHI HEALTH GUIDE). "Symptoms of anxiety, preoccupation and avoidance must be present, and these symptoms were not present prior to the trauma."

Treatment for Post Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD) Symptoms (From Counselling Directory). "... they will avoid all people, places and items that remind them of the incident.".

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder news

Stress Test. Holmes-Rahe Life Events Rating scale This scale can help you to measure how much stress you have experienced in the past year and the potential impact of that stress on your physical and mental health.

Psychology Of Trauma & Distress; Helping People Overcome:-

Re-evaluation Counseling

A process whereby people of all ages and of all backgrounds can learn how to exchange effective help with each other in order to free themselves from the effects of past distress experiences.

Re-evaluation Counseling theory provides a model of what a human being can be like in the area of his/her interaction with other human beings and his/her environment. The theory assumes that everyone is born with tremendous intellectual potential, natural zest, and lovingness, but that these qualities have become blocked and obscured in adults as the result of accumulated distress experiences (fear, hurt, loss, pain, anger, embarrassment, etc.) which begin early in our lives.

Fearless woman helps unlock anxiety puzzle. A woman in the US who is incapable of experiencing fear could lead researchers towards a treatment for post-traumatic stress disorder and other anxiety conditions. A study, by researchers at the University of Iowa, University of California, Los Angeles, and California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, centred on a 44-year-old woman who is missing a part of her brain essential for processing and acting on fear.

The authors believe their research, published today in Current Biology, offers valuable new insights into the connection between the brain and behaviour in situations that would normally evoke fear, as well as the conscious experience of fear. Lead author Justin Feinstein, a University of Iowa PhD student, says fear is an essential survival mechanism. "Normally, the amygdala, (Wikipedia) is constantly sorting through all the information coming into our brain through the different senses in order to rapidly detect anything that might impact our survival," he says. "Once it detects danger, the amygdala orchestrates a rapid full-body response that compels us to stay away from the threat, thereby improving our chances for survival."

Professor Fred Westbrook at the University of New South Wales School of Psychology says the Iowa team's research confirms data collected in previous animal-based research and studies on normal human subjects. He says it could have important consequences for neuroscience and psychology.

"Understanding what the amygdala's doing is almost certainly going to be critical for things like anxiety disorders. For example, post traumatic stress disorder," he says.

"A characteristic of PTSD is that whenever you encounter the cues that were present at the disorder, these cues will trigger flashbacks, autonomic responses, panic attacks."

"There's a lot of interest at the moment with regards to understanding the amygdala and the other circuits that it's involved in, in order to get a better understanding of normal fear and pathological forms of fear," he says.

Westbrook says the work by Feinstein and colleagues could also lead to ways of predicting who is vulnerable to anxiety disorders like PTSD.

The Amygdala. Joseph LeDoux. Center for Neural Science, New York University. The amygdala is a complex structure involved in a wide range of normal behavioral functions and psychiatric conditions. Not so long ago it was an obscure region of the brain that attracted relatively little scientific interest. Today it is one of the most heavily studied brain areas, and practically a household word. Art critics are explaining the impact of a painting by its direct impact on the amygdala; essential oils are said to alter mood by affecting the amygdala; and there is a website where you can unleash your creativity by clicking your amygdala, and thereby popping your frontal cortex. This Primer will focus on the scientific implications of the research, discussing the anatomical structure, connectivity, cellular properties and behavioral functions of the amygdala.

Remember Fear, slide show about fear and memory. Why do we remember fear by Joseph LeDoux

Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). What is Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder? (National Institute of Mental Health). Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, PTSD, is an anxiety disorder that can develop after exposure to a terrifying event or ordeal in which grave physical harm occurred or was threatened. Traumatic events that may trigger PTSD include violent personal assaults, natural or human-caused disasters, accidents, or military combat. 

More about PTSD. People with PTSD have persistent frightening thoughts and memories of their ordeal and feel emotionally numb, especially with people they were once close to. They may experience sleep problems, feel detached or numb, or be easily startled.

More about Signs & Symptoms of PTSD. Effective treatments for post-traumatic stress disorder are available, and research is yielding new, improved therapies that can help most people with PTSD and other anxiety disorders lead productive, fulfilling lives.

More about Treatments for PTSD

Why do some people get PTSD and other people do not?

Post-Traumatic Embitterment Disorder PTED patients do not fit the formal criteria for PTSD prompting the description of a new and separate disorder and can be clinically distinguished from it. Information from Wikipedia

Diagnostic Features

The essential feature of Posttraumatic Embitterment Disorder is the development of clinically significant emotional or behavioral symptoms following a single exceptional, though normal negative life event. The person knows about the event and perceives it as the cause of illness. The event is experienced as unjust, as an insult, and as a humiliation. The person’s response to the event must involve feelings of embitterment, rage, and helplessness. The person reacts with emotional arousal when reminded of the event. The characteristic symptoms resulting from the event are repeated intrusive memories and a persistent negative change in mental well-being.

Affect modulation is unimpaired and normal affect can be observed if the person is distracted. The trigger event is a single negative life event that can occur in every life domain. The event is experienced as traumatic due to a violation of basic beliefs. Traumatic events of this type include, but are not limited to, conflict at the workplace, unemployment, the death of a relative, divorce, severe illness, or experience of loss or separation. The illness develops in the direct context of the event. The person must not have had any obvious mental disorder prior to the event that could explain the abnormal reaction.

Associated Features

Individuals with Posttraumatic Embitterment Disorder frequently manifest decreased performance in daily activities and roles. Posttraumatic Embitterment Disorder is associated with impaired affectivity. Besides prolonged embitterment individuals may display negative mood, irritability, restlessness, and resignation. Individuals may blame themselves for the event, for not having prevented it, or for not being able to cope with it. Patients may show a variety of unspecific somatic complaints, such as loss of appetite, sleep disturbance, pain.

Manipulating Memory. (The Scientist) Insights into the cellular and molecular basis of emotion and memory could help patients with post traumatic stress disorder.

So what is a phobia ?

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